Six policemen were suspended on Tuesday for allegedly misusing `2 crore seized from a bus on the outskirts of the city on January 4.
Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare told reporters that sub-inspector Jagadish, head constable Ashok and constables Latif, Satish, Ravi and Manohar have been suspended.
All the six are absconding, he added.
He has requested the Director General and Inspector General of Police to hand the case over to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) for further investigation.
Khare said Satish knew about the people involved in transporting the hawala money and he and his colleagues hatched a plan to seize the money.
They then conducted a raid in Yelwal, which falls outside their jurisdiction, without informing the local police.
He said the video recording of the raid was started only after taking out `2.07 crore from the bus. Though the raid began at 1 am, the video recording started at 1.30 am and the SP was informed at 3.30 am.
Khare said though it was rumoured that the police seized `2.27 crore, only `20 lakh was shown in official records.
“I decided to file an FIR against the police officers after the merchants said the seized money was the sum they got on selling gold. The accused policemen had paid `15 lakh to their informers and of this, `8 lakh has been recovered,” the SP added.
Khare confirmed that Home Minister K J George had called him seeking an impartial investigation into the case.
He also rubbished rumours that higher officials got a share of the seized money and said there is no evidence to prove this claim.